A 27-year-old woman has been pulled alive from rubble 67 hours after the magnitude-7.2 earthquake devastated eastern Turkey.

The English language teacher, Gozde Bahar, was freed from the rubble with several injuries.

It was reported that her heart stopped at a field hospital, but doctors managed to resuscitate her.

Rescued: Gozde Bahar, 27, was pulled out of the wreckage of a building in Ercis this morning - 67 hours after the earthquake struck eastern Turkey

Race against time: Rescue workers battle to find survivors under the debris in Ercis, Turkey, after a powerful earthquake on Sunday. A 27-year-old woman was pulled out alive 67 hours after the quake this morning

Devastating: At least 459 people have so far been confirmed dead after the 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit eastern Turkey

The dramatic rescue follows that of an
18-year-old university student, Eyup Erdem, who was pulled from the
wreckage of a collapsed multi-storey building earlier this morning.

Rescuers
are desperately working against clock to find survivors in the rubble,
with powerful aftershocks still shaking the area.

Some 200 prisones are thought to have escaped after the quake collapsed a perimeter wall, but 50 returned after visiting relatives to check on their safety.

Desperate survivors fought over aid and blocked aid shipments to the disaster-hit region.

Turkey has said it will need prefabricated homes to house survivors during the winter and will accept international aid offers.

Israel has offered assistance despite a rift between the two countries over last year's raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla that killed nine Turkish activists.

Around 2,000 buildings collapsed and 1,350 people have been injured in the quake.

The fact the earthquake struck in the daytime, when many people were out, averted an even worse disaster.

Close to 500 aftershocks have rattled the area, with a temblor of 5.7 magnitude sparking panic in the streets.

Gerald Rockenshaub, disaster response
manager at the World Health Organisation, said the first 48 to 72 hours
are crucial for rescues and the chances of finding survivors decrease
significantly after that.

People
can survive without food for a week or so, but having access to water
is critical, especially for the elderly and infants, he said.

Turkey lies in one of the world's most active seismic zones and is crossed by numerous fault lines.

In 1999, two earthquakes with a magnitude of more than seven struck north-western Turkey, killing 18,000 people.

Istanbul,
the country's largest city home to more than 12 million people, lies in
north-western Turkey near a major fault line and experts say tens of
thousands could be killed if a major earthquake struck there.

Quake prone: Turkey is particularly susceptible to seismic activity, with four tectonic plates within its borders. Sunday's quake occurred along the North Anatolian fault, which runs along the top of the country